18 December 2018Greg Nelligan admits using mighty mare Winx as a distraction in his attempt to dope a horse on Turnbull Stakes day last year - but claims he never doped any Melbourne Cup horses.

Nelligan conceded he had attempted to illegally treat Lovani at Flemington on Turnbull Stakes Day 2017 because Winx was racing and "I foolishly thought they would all be watching her (Winx) and I had an opportunity."

But he says he never illegally treated any Melbourne Cup horses because “I think that would be a day I considered too risky” and "you’d be ridiculously foolish to do it."

Nelligan insisted he had never illegally treated horses trained by two trainers, one known as the “Goat” or “The Goatherder” on text messages, who are not the subject of any charges stemming from the Aquanita inquiry.

Nelligan is the stablehand at the centre of the 'Aquanita eight' doping conspiracy who has been banned from racing for life.

He was quizzed at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal about the Liam Birchley-trained horse Pop ‘N’ Scotch which ran on Melbourne Cup day 2015.

Birchley has always denied ever administering or requesting a horse to be administered with any substance, despite a text message he sent saying: "Can you org (organise) a top-up for tomorrow?"

That text was sent to serial doper Nelligan concerning Pop 'N' Scotch, which was to run at Flemington on the Melbourne Cup program the following day in 2015.

Under questioning from Birchley’s legal counsel Michael Grant-Taylor at VCAT, Nelligan said he no memory of administering illegal substances to horses on Melbourne Cup day.

But he doubted he would have risked it on the biggest day in Australian racing.

“I have no idea .. I can't recall, but I don’t think that I did it,” Nelligan said

“I think that would be a day I considered too risky."

Later he said: "I don’t claim to have any integrity in this industry anymore but I wouldn’t do it (illegally treat horses) in the Melbourne Cup.

"You’d be ridiculously foolish to do it."

Nelligan, under questioning from Patrick Wheelahan for Tony Vasil, was asked further about texts referencing Melbourne Cup horses.

In texts on the eve of the 2015 Melbourne Cup, Nelligan claimed he had "two Cup horses as well” to do and there was another text saying: “Robert (Smerdon) had me do one for the guy with the Cup horses a few years ago so it's not out of the circle of trust but I still don't tell him.”

But Nelligan told VCAT: “I have no recollection of doing horses for the Melbourne Cup.”

Nelligan also said he had never illegally treated a Tony Vasil-trained horse.

Greg Nelligan was subpoenaed to give evidence by Racing Victoria lawyers during of the appeals hearing of banned trainers Smerdon, Stuart Webb, Birchley and Vasil at VCAT.

An emotional Denise Nelligan, banned from racing for life over the Aquanita 'top-ups' affair, was in the VCAT witness box late on Tuesday and admitted she at one point became involved in making the bicarb paste for illegal raceday treatments.

Denise Nelligan, Greg's wife, also conceded she knew various parties were involved in the illegal scheme.

“I didn’t like it,” Denise Nelligan said.

Denise Nelligan's evidence will continue at VCAT on Wednesday.

* Due to the ongoing nature of the appeal, comments have been turned off *

Trainer Tony Vasil told the appeal hearing against his three-year doping ban that it appears others, including those also charged and convicted over the Aquanita scandal, had conspired to top-up his horses with illegal bi-carb mixtures.

An emotional Vasil took the stand on day five of the appeal hearing of four banned trainers to declare 'I was stunned' when he realised trusted people around him had been 'topping-up' some of his horses.

"2017 wasn't a very good year for me," Vasil told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Wednesday before wiping away tears.

"I never knew of or never gave consent that any of my horses were to be treated."

Vasil rejected he had any knowledge about the 'top-ups' conspiracy that ran from 2010 to 2017 and has led to sanctions for eight people - all former employees of the now defunct Aquanita Racing.

"I was shocked and disappointed," he said. "I did not know."

Vasil was taken through a number of text messages by Racing Victoria's legal counsel Jeff Gleeson, QC, from other Aquanita employees that referred to Vasil's horses and how and when they were to be topped up.

Vasil said he had no knowledge of what had been happening with respect to top-ups and was 'bamboozled' by it.

Gleeson asked Vasil if he thought those who were topping up his horses were fantasists and he replied: "Denise Nelligan is a strange person and Greg Nelligan was very addicted to betting."

Vasil said while he had gotten on well with Greg Nelligan, who was 'very supportive when my mum died' and was 'a good fella', he was not as friendly with his wife Denise.

"I don't believe anything that comes out of Denise Nelligan's mouth," he said.

He conceded to the tribunal that the Nelligans lived in a house in East Brighton that Vasil owned for as long as nine years rent free.

Vasil said he used to add sodium bicarbonate to his horse's feed but denied he has ever illegally administered the substance.

"I used to feed it to the horses," Vasil said. "It was practice for a number of years. A soup spoon measurement in their feed."

But Vasil said he would not add the bi-carb to feed on race day as he knew it was banned under the 24-hour treating rule and that he believed it was performance enhancing.

Vasil was suspended for six weeks for a bi-carb offence with a horse called Mr Splinters about a decade ago and said he swore off bi-carb from that moment.

"As soon as that happened, as soon as I got six weeks, I stopped using it," he said.

Vasil agreed he was 'quite good friends' with Greg Nelligan and just 'friends' with his wife Denise until after the Lovani incident on October 7, 2017.

But Vasil said that friendship drifted after the Lovani incident.

"I suppose I distanced myself from them," he told the tribunal. "I had to digest it."

Gleeson challenged that answer, claiming Vasil was still good friends with Greg Nelligan some months after he was caught trying to administer a bi-carb mix to Lovani and that he only fell out with Nelligan because he felt he had to be 'outraged' and 'furious' with being connected to the scandal.

Vasil was released from the stand shortly after 4pm to signal an end to the hearing that lasted five days.

VCAT deputy president Heather Lambrick adjourned the hearing until a date to be fixed in February next year when the parties will give oral submissions.

ENDS

Still it drags on oral submissions to come although it was reported previously that two previous witnesses were likey to be recalled .

19 December 2018Denise Nelligan has told the Aquanita raceday treatment appeals hearings that she thinks former Victorian chairman of stewards Terry Bailey is an " .”

Nelligan, banned for life over the Aquanita affair, was being quizzed by Racing Victoria legal counsel Jeff Gleeson at the appeals of four banned trainers at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Nelligan was asked why, on one text message, she referred to then Victorian chairman of stewards Terry Bailey as “an asshole.”

“Because that’s what I think,” she replied.

Gleeson then asked Nelligan if she thought Bailey was an purely because he was trying to catch her and husband Greg Nelligan cheating.

“No, not just because of that,” Nelligan replied.

Bailey was at the Racing and Disciplinary Board hearings of the Aquanita affair earlier this year but has since taken up as a position as chief steward in Singapore and isn’t at the appeals hearings before VCAT.

Denise Nelligan also testified that Group I-winning trainer Stuart Webb was not involved “in a physical sense” with topping-up horses, but claims he was involved in the organisation of the illegal raceday treatment scheme.

Webb, who apart from being a Group I-winning trainer often organised the transport for the Aquanita organisation, has been banned for four years over the raceday treatment scheme.

Denise Nelligan, who was an office worker and stablehand at Aquanita, was asked by Gleeson what Webb’s involvement was.

“Not in a physical sense, the actual giving of it (raceday treatment),” Nelligan said.

Then she was asked if Webb, to her knowledge, did not personally put syringes in horses’ mouths but was involved in organising raceday treatments.

“Yes,” Nelligan replied.

Denise Nelligan also gave evidence that banned trainer Tony Vasil (three years) was involved in the scheme and had hidden “top-ups” from stewards.

“The stewards did watch Tony closely,” she said.

Nelligan admitted her husband Greg, also banned for life over the Aquanita affair, had a traditional way of trying to evade detection from stewards while embarking on raceday treatment.

She agreed that he generally hid syringes loaded with sodium bicarbonate and tripart underneath his jacket before illegally treating horses in stalls on raceday.

The Nelligans were subpoenaed to give evidence by Racing Victoria lawyers during of the appeals hearing of banned trainers Robert Smerdon, Stuart Webb, Liam Birchley and Tony Vasil at VCAT.

Denise Nelligan, in the same way as her husband, prefaced all her answers at VCAT with the phrase “I claim that the answer I give may tend to incriminate me” with reference to any potential further litigation.

* Comments have been turned off on this story while the appeals hearing is ongoing *